Trenching at Gallipoli: The personal narrative of a Newfoundlander with the ill-fated Dardanelles expeditionGallishaw, John
History
Trenching at Gallipoli: The personal narrative of a Newfoundlander with the ill-fated Dardanelles expedition
Gallishaw, John
World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, Canadian
it here and there, were the little rough wooden crosses that gave the
simple details of a man's regimental name, number, and date of death.
Not a few of them were in memory of "Unknown Comrades." And once in a
while one saw a cross that marked the resting place of the foe.
Feeling toward the enemy differed with individuals; but we were all
agreed that Johnny Turk was a good, clean, sporty fighter, who
generally gave as good as we could send. Therefore, whenever we could
we gave him decent burial, we stuck a cross up over him, although he
did not believe in what it symbolized, and we took off his
identification disk and personal papers. These we handed to our
interpreters, who sent them to the neutral consuls at Constantinople;
and they communicated through the proper channels with the deceased's
various widows.
After a week or so in this district, we moved back again to our old
quarters at Anafarta village. Here we took over a block house occupied
by the Essex. The Dublins and the Munsters were on our right. The
block house was an advanced post that we held in the morning and
during the night. Every afternoon we left it for a few hours while the
enemy wasted shells on it. A couple of Irish snipers were with us. The
first day they were there, our Lieutenant, Mr. Nunns, spent the day
with them; that day, he accounted for four Turks. This was the closest
we had yet been to them. I stood up beside an Irish sniper and looked
through a pair of field glasses to where he pointed out some snipers'
dugouts. They were the same dugouts that Cooke, the Irish V.C. man,
had shown me. While I was watching, I saw an old Turk sneaking out
between his trench and one of the dugouts. He looked old and stooped
and had a long whisker that reached almost to his waist and appeared
to have difficulty in getting along. All about him were little canvas
pockets that contained bombs and about his neck was a long string of
small bombs. "Begob," said one of the Dublins, beside me, "'t is the
daddy of them all. Get him, my son." I grasped my gun excitedly and
aimed; but before I had taken the pressure of the trigger, I heard
from a little distance to the right the staccato of a machine gun.
The result was astonishing. One second, I was looking through my
sights at the Turk; the next, he had disappeared, and in his place was
the most marvelous combination of all colors of flames I have ever
seen. Literally Johnny Turk had gone up in smoke. The Irishman beside
me was standing open mouthed.
"Glory be to God," he said, "what does that make you think of?"
"It reminds me," I said, "of a Fourth of July celebration in the
States; and I wish," I added heartily, "I was there now."
"It makes me think, my son," said the Irishman, "of the way ould Cooke
killed a lot of the sausage-makers over on the other side. He threw a
bomb in among tin of 'em and then fired his rifle at it and exploded
it. Killed every damn one of 'em, he did. 'T was the same time he got
the V.C."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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